News and Media

02 April 2015

Pensions Perspective: Easter Special

As we approach the Easter weekend, I am sorry to inform you that if you still have pension planning to do before the end of the tax year then, just like the White Rabbit, you are probably 'late for a very important date'.

You would have had to have been a dormouse in a teapot not to have realised that April and pension freedom are almost upon us. It has been a very busy 2015 so far and the build up to pension freedom has seen legislation appear and disappear, much like the Cheshire Cat.

I do feel a bit like Ed in Pensions Wonderland sometimes, subjected to a quite nonsensical world where things are not quite what they seem, with acronyms and new phraseology cascading down like a pack of cards.

The 'ins and outs' of our pensions' legislation seem very much on trial in the media, with commentary and opinion available from both the popular and financial press. Pensions have become popular, but for every positive assessment there have been negative warnings. It is not even 6 April yet, but sometimes it feels like the trial in Alice in Wonderland where the King of Hearts turns to the jury and declares that they must consider their verdict before even a word of evidence has been presented!

The Queen of Hearts had only one way of settling all difficulties, great or small, by proclaiming, 'Off with his head.' At City Trustees, however, we are able to offer the support of our business development managers and our technical department, neither of which are about to 'eat' or 'drink' anything just because the label tells them to!

May will see a general election and we may see a shuffle around the pensions table after five years of consistency. So we return to the Mad Hatter's tea party where guests are required to keep moving around the table in order to find the first seat with an available clean cup - all change!

Pension Perspective is a weekly feature from City Trustees, covering questions that our experienced sales and technical teams have received from advisers. The Q&A covers a range of subjects including property, pension contributions, protection, auto-enrolment and more.

City Trustees operates a free technical helpline for advisers for support with pension challenges. Tel: 0116 240 8731 or email: technicalhelp@citytrustees.co.uk.